Though Tian Honglu's heart was filled with anxiety, she knew she couldn't dally at this moment. If both of them were to fall here, there would be no one left to go back and deliver the message. By then, they would be completely at others' mercy. Thus, she immediately turned around, hopped onto Xiaohong, and ran in the direction from which they had come.
Alas, before her mount Xiaohong could muster the strength to sprint, a broad swath of saber light attacked her from the side.
The saber light emitted a bone-chilling gleam, and a sense of impending death assaulted her face in an instant!
This was Tian Honglu's first time traversing the martial world. She had never encountered such life-and-death situations before, and fear seized her mind and spirit. She was so terrified that she froze on the spot, unable to move...
"Second Elder, hold back, I have use for this young woman!"
Under Little Monkey's command, the saber light came to an abrupt halt just in front of her forehead.
Looking at the large saber less than an inch away from her brow, Tian Honglu swallowed hard, slowly raised her head, and then clearly saw the owner of the longsword.
Standing before her was a young man dressed in a black short robe, broad-shouldered and rampant with a ferocious look. The dense aura of blood around him indicated that his cultivation had already reached the Body-Opening Ten Layers Marrow-Cleansing Realm.
His muscles were so pronounced that he hardly looked normal, standing nearly six feet tall, which is close to two meters, with a body crisscrossed with muscles like twisted vines, a tiger's back and bear's waist, and thick limbs that were larger than those of an average person. Standing in front of her, he was a veritable iron tower.
The big saber in his hand, four feet long and four inches wide, would have been too heavy to lift for an ordinary person, yet in his hands, it seemed perfectly normal.
Whoosh...
Along with the sharp noise of a longsword embedding into the ground, the sounds of fighting from the other side abruptly ceased. Tian Honglu, still unclear about the iron tower man's identity, hurriedly turned her head to look.
That glance turned her face pale.
Not only had her senior brother Duan Zhengqi's longsword been knocked away by Hou Yuxiao's long staff, but his shoulder was also mangled and bleeding, and he was kneeling on the ground, forehead sweating and face deathly pale.
"Hou Family's Second Elder, Hou Yucheng!"
Seeing that Tian Honglu, although captured, had not been hurt, Duan Zhengqi, despite the severe pain in his shoulder, felt a wave of relief. He looked up at the burly man and identified him with a single statement.
"Hmph, at least you have some insight, kid."
Seeing that he had the situation under control and not fearing Tian Honglu's escape, Hou Yucheng sheathed his saber at his waist and walked slowly to Hou Yuxiao's side, a trace of a smile appearing on his face as he bowed, "Big brother, it's been almost a month. If you didn't come back, we were going to look for you in Tianling County!"
The nearly two-meter-tall and robust Hou Yucheng, paying respects to the mere one-and-a-half-meter-tall and incredibly frail Hou Yuxiao, still towered over him, even with a bowed body.
"Alright, alright, stand up. I was supposed to return half a month ago, but I didn't expect to encounter these two disciples from the Mountain Sword Sect. The young girl has some background, tie them up and bring them back, I have great use for them!"
"The Mountain Sword Sect, that third-rate sect from Tianling County?"
A look of surprise immediately appeared on Hou Yucheng's face, but seeing that Hou Yuxiao did not intend to answer, he did not continue to inquire. Instead, he stepped forward, tied up the two captives, lifted one in each hand, threw them onto the back of the fiery-maned horse, and followed Hou Yuxiao in the direction of Zhaoyang County Town.
"Hou Lao Da, how about you let my junior sister go? You're just after money, aren't you? I can stay here as a hostage, let my junior sister go back and bring silver to ransom me!"
Although Duan Zhengqi's shoulder hurt greatly, his thoughts were still clear. He knew that his junior sister Tian Honglu absolutely must not come to any harm. As long as she could safely return to their sect, paying some silver to ransom himself would be a piece of cake.
"Don't worry, follow me back first!"
Hou Yuxiao turned his head and looked at the two of them, a hint of obscure, ghostly color flashing in the depths of his eyes.
Tian Honglu was now casually thrown onto the back of a horse, furious and annoyed. She had come this time precisely to rid the people of Zhaoyang County of the scourge that was Hou Yuxiao.
Little did she expect to be captured by him before even entering the town, her dreams of becoming a female knight shattered.
In her anger and annoyance, she was convinced that Hou Yuxiao wouldn't dare to harm her, and she burst out cursing, "Hou Yuxiao, you vile rapist, despicable and shameless, taking advantage of others in disguise, what kind of hero are you, I don't want to go with you to Zhaoyang, let me go, let me go, or my father will surely come to kill you..."
Walking in front, Hou Yuxiao's lips curved slightly, showing a faint smile. He paid no heed to her cursing, not even a word in response; he simply continued walking.
This kind of young lady, well-born and without much cunning, may be willful and brash but also simple, providing no pressure to deal with.
Yet after walking a while longer, hearing Tian Honglu's incessant ranting and cursing, Hou Yuxiao finally got somewhat annoyed.
However, he didn't speak directly, but stopped in his tracks, then slowly walked up beside Xiaohong. His stature, being less than five feet tall, just met eye to eye with Tian Honglu, who was lying on the horse's back.
Hou Yuxiao gazed at Tian Honglu for more than ten breaths' time, making her feel uneasy deep down, her cursing growing softer until he spoke leisurely, "Don't you want to know if I love to eat human flesh?
If you make another sound, you'll immediately find out the answer!"
With those words from Hou Yuxiao, the world went silent in an instant...
Tian Honglu's lips were tightly sealed, her eyes on Hou Yuxiao's cold, thin face filled with terror, and even if she wanted to cry out in fear, she dared not let out even a sob.
Seeing the young lady frightened into silence, a strange color flickered through Hou Yuxiao's pupils, especially when he saw a fine thread of black qi emerging from the top of the young lady's head, his face instantly revealing a hint of pleasure.
With that black qi appearing, a lotus with twelve black and white petals, six of each color, quietly emerged in the center of Hou Yuxiao's forehead. The lotus emitted a suction force, instantly drawing that thread of black qi inside.
Though the Divine Lotus had twelve interwoven black and white petals, only the first black petal was glowing. However, with the absorption of the black qi from Tian Honglu's body, the second black petal visibly gained a bit more luster.
Only, the second black petal's glow was obviously already full, far from lacking that thread of black qi from Tian Honglu.
"This First Rank Innate Good and Evil Divine Lotus still only has the effect of transformation!
No matter how much fear and fright others feel, the second black petal is not likely to glow again. It seems that for the Divine Lotus to ascend in rank, goodness and evilness must progress in tandem; having more of one or the other won't do!
To ascend to Second Rank and unlock the second effect, I must perform more good deeds!"
Despite having confirmed it twice already in Tianling County, seeing that the fear others felt towards him still did not advance the Innate Divine Lotus in his mind, Hou Yuxiao sighed quietly to himself.
This First Rank Innate Good and Evil Divine Lotus was the very lotus he had covetously eyed before his transmigration, in the pond of that old lady. The name was something he had come up with after exploring the lotus's effects and determining its name himself.
Less than a quarter of an hour later, the town of Zhaoyang County came into view.
Having been away for just over a month, Hou Yuxiao unexpectedly felt a sense of melancholy as if returning to his homeland, but then he thought that he was no longer even on Earth, and he sighed deeply!
"Unconsciously, it's been two years since I arrived in this world..."